Decepticon at Spark
by Starsabre
Summary: A sparkling is born to two loving parents, but two quickly becomes one, and the remaining parent orphans him. He lives a normal life, until an unwanted visit from an stranger unlocks his sad past. Will Firespark ever accept himself?
1. Firespark

**Chapter 1**

Soundwave ran through the thick, tangled undergrowth towards the warehouse where his spark mate lay. Upon reaching the door, he threw it open, and ran to his femme's side. She looked up at him, pain clouding her optics, and tried to smile, but it took too much effort and she gave up. Soundwave began to prepare for their sparkling's arrival, opening windows to cool the hot room down, and looking about to find a cloth with which to wipe off the sparkling when it came. He quickly located a closet full of towel, grabbed a few and ran back to his mate. He was excited for his first sparkling, but worried for his mate, Windfall, a fragile femme, not cut out for so much strain. On top of that, they weren't in a proper facility for a femme to give birth, but there was nothing they could do about that. It broke Soundwave's heart that he couldn't give his mate the best.

Finally, after what felt like hours, Windfall lay still, breathing hard, and Soundwave lovingly cradled the little sparkling in his arms. He passed the sparkling to his mate, who smiled as she saw his sleeping face, peaceful and unaware of everything that had just happened. Soundwave noticed how weak Windfall looked, and realized that even though the strain was over for her, the danger of death still lingered. The little mech had been a huge drain on her energy, and Soundwave knew she was fighting to stay alive.

"He's b-beautiful, Soundwave." Windfall's soft voice jerked her mate out of his grim thoughts.

"Just like you," Soundwave replied. "Look," he said as the sparkling woke up, "he has your optics. What should we name him?" They both looked at the sparkling who cooed happily and lifted his tiny servos up to his father, revealing a slightly transparent panel on his chest. The light from his spark cast a soft glow out of this panel, and his parents noticed that his spark was a deeper reddish-orange than most.

"Firespark," Windfall whispered, and Soundwave nodded. That would be a good name for the little grey and blue mech.

"Here," Soundwave said, "let me hold Firespark. You get some rest."

"Okay. You get some rest too, S-Soundwave," Windfall replied. She turned over on her side on her makeshift bed and promptly slipped into recharge mode.

Soundwave stared down at Firespark, who was again in recharge mode. He squirmed a little when Soundwave set him down on his own little cushion on the floor, but did not wake up. Soundwave looked over at his mate, sleeping peacefully, and thought of how beautiful she looked, with the moonlight streaming through the open window to rest on her, making her shine like some ethereal creature. He stroked he arm, letting his fingers pass over the fire-engine red Autobot symbol on her powder blue arm. He glanced down at the deep purple Decepticon symbol on his own chest and sighed. Being on opposite sides of a war made marriage tough. They had to meet in secret, couldn't be seen together, and had real problems if they came across each other in battle. Soundwave sighed again and settled back onto his own bed. His head filled with worried thoughts, he slipped into recharge mode.

The next morning, Soundwave woke up to the harsh Cybertronian sun in his optics. He looked around himself and saw Windfall, still asleep, and Firespark, sitting next to her with his servo in his mouth. Upon seeing that his father was awake, Firespark squealed and stretched his wet servo towards his dad. Soundwave grinned and scooped up his son, tickling him. Firespark giggled and squirmed. Soundwave realized that he and Firespark had been making a lot of noise, so he looked over at Windfall, and what he saw made his energon run cold.

"No!" Soundwave set Firespark back down on the ground and ran over to his mate, fearing the worst. What he thought he had seen proved to be accurate: Windfall wasn't breathing. "Wind! No! NO!" He stumbled into the wall, tears streaming down his face, and slammed a fist into the door, nearly knocking it off its hinges. "Why? Why, Primus, why?" This behavior scared Firespark, who began to cry as well. Soundwave stopped yelling and picked Firespark up once more. "Oh, Firespark, I'm sorry. Please stop crying, daddy's okay, see?" He faked a smile and Firespark quieted down, still sniffling. "What am I gonna do with you?" Soundwave asked, and he meant it. The answer came like a homing missile; there was no avoiding it. He would have to give Firespark to the Autobots. He could have taken Firespark back to the Decepticon base to raise him, except there was one hitch in that plan, Firespark's optics were like his mother's: blue.


	2. Arrival

**Author's Note:** I do not own Soundwave or the Transformers, but I do own Windfall, Firespark and this plot.

**Chapter 2**

Red Alert sat in front of the security screens, watching vigilantly. There was a whoosh from behind him and Bumblebee walked in the door.

"Hey, what'cha doing?"

"What does it look like I'm doing?" Red Alert spun around in his chair to face Bumblebee.

"I dunno, being bored?"

Red Alert sighed. "Yes, it is boring, but someone has to do it."

"Well, if someone pops up on the screens, then what happens?"

"I've told you before, Bumblebee. Why don't you go bother Ratchet?"

"I'm just trying to take your mind off of your boredom. Answer the question." Bumblebee crossed his arms.

Red Alert sighed again. "Well, if something comes up on the screens, the computer reads its energy signature and determines if it's a threat or not. Then if it's a threat, an alarm goes off and we all run outside."

"So tell me," Bumblebee began, but was interrupted by a screeching siren. Red Alert spun back around to face the screens. He pushed a button on the console and spoke into a microphone. "Decepticon coming up to the North entrance, looks like he's carrying something. Could be a bomb, it has an energy signature too." He took his hand off the button. "You go too, Bumblebee."

"Yes, sir!" Bumblebee tore out of the room, running down the hall.

By the time Bumblebee reached the North entrance, there were already a few Autobots gathered in the hall. Red Alert's voice came over the intercom. "Wait a minute, he's leaving the package at the door. It's probably a bomb!"

"Excuse me, Red Alert." Optimus Prime's took over the intercom. "I don't want anyone there but Wheeljack! Wheeljack, look and see if that is a bomb, and if it is, I want you to stop it from exploding, by whatever means necessary." Wheeljack nodded at the camera, and the other Autobots retreated deeper into the hallway. Wheeljack put his servo to a panel next to the door and it whooshed open. He stepped out into the night towards the glowing bundle. _Odd,_ he thought,_ why would he wrap a bomb in cloth?_ It moved and he practically jumped out of his armor. When it didn't stop moving, he guessed it was about to explode, and hurried toward it, but then a tiny servo popped out of the blanket and he gasped.

"Prime, it's just a sparkling," he said to the camera. Gingerly, Wheeljack picked up the squirmy sparkling and carried him into the base. Bumblebee gaped at the little sparkling, who stared back at Bumblebee for a couple of seconds before he started to cry.

"What'd I do?!" Bumblebee asked. All the other Autobots laughed. Ratchet seemed to appear out of nowhere in the crowd.

"Come on Wheeljack, we'd better check the poor thing out." He walked off toward the med bay with Wheeljack in tow.

Soundwave watched all the commotion from a safe distance, tears welling up behind his optics. When they took him into the base, he smiled bitterly, knowing that this was what Windfall would have wanted. He stood up and turned around, his red optics briefly caught on the security camera before he took off.

After his check-up, Wheeljack took the sparkling to the conference room where the rest of the Autobots were waiting. He sat down in a chair, still cradling the sparkling in his arms. The sparkling squirmed a little and sat up, looking around the conference room as if searching for someone.

"First off," Optimus said, "do we have a name for this sparkling?"

"Yes we do, Prime, a note tucked inside the blanket said his name was Firespark." Firespark looked up at Wheeljack and squealed at the mention of his name. All the mechs laughed and the femmes thought it was the cutest thing in the world.

"Is that all it said?" Prime asked.

"Pretty much, it also said to 'Treat him well.'" Ratchet answered that question. "But we would have done that whether the note told us to or not."

Optimus nodded. "Absolutely. Now, this is the important question, who will adopt Firespark?" There was silence for a while, and then Chromia stepped up.

"Ironhide and I will." Wheeljack handed Firespark over to Chromia, who smiled down at Firespark. He squealed and held up his tiny servos to Chromia, thinking she was his mom. Optimus smiled when he saw how happy the three were.

"Well, that takes care of that. Everyone can retire for the night." The Autobots filed out of the room, leaving just Optimus Prime and the two medical personnel. Optimus looked at the two. "Could you figure out who his parents were?"

"No, sir, it's a complete mystery," Ratchet replied. "His optics are blue like an Autobots, but it's obvious he's the son of a Decepticon, who that is, we can only guess. He doesn't bear any resemblance to any Decepticreep I've seen. Optimus frowned.

"Well, whoever it was, they obviously cared very much about their sparkling. To leave it with us, they were probably thinking about his well being." Prime sighed. "You can leave, I've got a lot of thinking to do." Wheeljack and Ratchet nodded and left the room, leaving Prime to stew in his thoughts.

**Note: **Somethings about the Autobots might be inaccurate, but that's okay, 'cuz I don't have Cartoon Network and I don't know a lot about the Autobots anyway.


	3. Visitor

**Chapter 3**

The young Autobot took aim at the target at the far side of the room. A hum and the crackle of electricity filled the air. _Bvvvvvvt… _the mech squinted and let loose a powerful burst of energy and shrapnel flew in all directions, missing all of those nearby by mere meters.

"Uh, kid, you know you weren't supposed to… well, you know…" Ironhide frowned, and all the other students at the shooting range stared. Firespark felt his face grow hot as he stared out the gaping hole he had blown into the wall. _Aww…slag…_ He ran out of the range, head down, trying to hold back angry sobs. _Frag it all… why can't I ever do anything right?! _

"Oof… Watch where you're - oh hey, aren't you supposed to be at the range with your class? What's wrong?" Firespark looked up through angry tears at Bumblebee.

"I… I hate this place!" Firespark pushed his way past Bumblebee and just ran. He didn't know where he was going, and he didn't care as long as it was away from the academy. As he ran, he noticed that the halls were suprisingly empty, and he thanked Primus for small things such as that. His footstep clicked down the halls and he couldn't believe that no one could hear him running… surely Prowl would come out of nowhere and swoop down upon him, ask him if he knew that it was forbidden to leave the grounds without permission during teaching hours, and inform him unneccesarily that he was to be written up. But Firespark burst through the massive double doors unhindered, and continued running across the dusty soil of Gamma Terceri and didn't stop until he fell face first into the dirt. The impact knocked the tears out of his optics and he sat for a full five minutes crying bitter tears. Sure his parents were both Autobots, and well-known at that, but he couldn't help thinking he didn't belong at the academy. They said he was too impulsive and eager to please, and that only made him want to please them even more.

Firespark glanced back in the direction he'd come and even though the academy was out of sight, he crawled over to a nearby rock and sat behind it. He sighed and stared out at the horizon. Two of the planet's moons had already risen, and he wondered when the others would come up. But other questions about the landscape surrouning him were put on hold, as he got the feeling he was being watched.

"Hello?" There was no answer, and he blinked and giggled nervously. "Right, of course, why would anyone be out here, it's just me, and I should probably start heading back…" A faint breath of wind cut short his rambling. _What was that.. I could've sworn I heard someone say… naw, but I'm probably just imagining it… but what if it was? What would that be then? Sounded like 'dongo'… or… 'don't _go'… Firespark gulped and stood up, now genuinely afraid. He had managed to convince himself that something was out there and he wasn't going to find out what it was. He took one step toward the academy and yes, there it was again, that was definitely a voice, only this time it had said 'please.' His legs seemed to turn to rubber underneath him and once again he was crying in the dirt, only this time out of fear, and as he pulled himself on tired legs and jittery arms toward a distant school, he found himself wondering why he had left in the first place. A shadow fell over him and he instinctively curled into a ball. When, after a while, nothing happened, he glanced up, but carefully, so as not to expose any vitals. A mech was squatting next to him, looking, if possible, almost as uncomfortable as Firespark. Firespark sat up and stared at the strange mech. Something about him wasn't quite right, maybe it was that he had a visor and Firespark couldn't tell what color his optics were, and he couldn't find a symbol on him because he was covered in mud. The mech cleared his throat with a grating sound and dug in a small satchel at his hip. He pulled out two candies. "Uh… I brought these for you, F-Firespark."


	4. Mystery Mech

**Chapter 4**

Firespark eyed the mech suspiciously.

"Um, my mom says I'm not to take anything from strangers." Firespark squeaked.

The stranger snorted bitterly. "Your mom said."

"What do you mean? Are you making fun of my mom?!" Firespark jumped to his feet, ready to take on this mangy mech.

The large mech rose also, and Firespark decided he probably didn't want to fight after all. "No, Firespark, I didn't mean to offend you." The young mech detected a slight quaver in his voice.

"How you know my name, anyway?"

The stranger shifted and looked away. "I..I knew your mom."

Firespark blinked. "You knew my mom? Chromia?"

"What? No..."

"But you said-"

"I mean, yeah. Sure, kid." He rubbed his faceplate, rubbing some grime away, and Firespark could see he had a gray face mask. He plopped down on a nearby rock.

"So who are you? I've never seen you before. Do you work at the academy? Are masks comfortable? How do you know my mom?" Feeling more comfortable, the questions came rapid-fire.

"Uh... no, I don't work at the academy, and yes, I think masks are comfortable-"

"Why do you wear it?" Firespark's large blue optics widened.

The stranger looked down, up, to the right. "Look, um, are all these questions really necessary?" Firespark frowned, dissappointed. "Oh, all right, I was in an accident and I had an operation and I have to wear it."

"Oh. That sounds painful."

"It was."

A couple seconds of awkward silence followed, finally broken by a distant shout.

"Firespark! Hey, Firespark! Are you out here?"

The young mech gulped. "Uh oh. Um, I'm pretty sure I've got to go. And I'll be in big trouble... So..." He hopped off his rock and sighed. The stranger, suddenly nervous, handed the candy to Firespark.

"Here, I have no use for this." He crouched down in front of Firespark in order to face him optic to optic. "If you ever need anyone to talk to... You can talk to me through your spark. But you must never tell anyone."

"Okay." Firespark smiled, grateful for his new friend. "Wait, before you go, what's your name?"

"Ask me later, I really have to go." The mech ran off across the sand toward a far off rock outcropping and dissappeared behind it.

"But how will I- Oh, right. The spark thing." He looked down at his glowing chest just as Bumblebee appeared over a sand dune.

The yellow mech breathed a sigh of relief and beckoned Firespark to follow him back to the academy. "Thank Primus I found you! We were going absolutely nuts trying to find you... Prowl is already pretty steamed. What are you doing out here, anyway?"

Firespark looked up innocently at Bumblebee, hiding the candies behind his back. "I just needed a minute to cool off... away from everyone else. I was really frustrated an I didn't want to talk to anyone."

Bumblebee blinked. "Oh, okay. Well, maybe we can try to explain to Prowl... If you're lucky, you might get off with just two detentions..."

Firespark sighed. Looking back, he thought he could just barely make out the shape of a certain mech flying away from him.


	5. A Sentence Repealed

**Chapter 5**

Firespark woke up and looked over at the clock. Seven. Time for class. He hopped out of bed and walked out of his dorm. He was still rubbing the sleep from his optics when Prowl came around the corner, nearly running smack into Firespark.

"Excuse me- Ah, Firespark, I was looking for you. Please, follow me to my office."

Firespark frowned. He knew that just because Prowl had said please didn't make it a question. He wished it had been a question. Nevertheless, he followed silently behind Prowl, attracting glances from other students who were wondering what he had done wrong. If they didn't already know. Word travelled fast in this school, and Firespark wouldn't be surprised to learn that half of the students already knew about his expedition off of the school grounds.

Finally they reached Prowl's office. He ushered Firespark inside and closed the door before taking a seat at his desk. Steepling his long fingers in front of his face, he stared at Firespark. At least, it looked like he was looking at Firespark.

After a couple seconds of silence, Prowl began talking.

"Now, Firespark, it has come to my attention that you have been rather troubled lately. Is there anything going on?"

Firespark shook his head.

Prowl raised his eyebrows. "Are you sure?" After Firespark nodded, he continued. "Well, then. So tell me, why did you leave the school grounds last night?"

Firespark shrugged. When Prowl ratcheted his eyebrows even higher up on his forehead, he decided he should start talking before Prowl injured himself.

"Well... I was in target practice. And I was trying to shoot the target... but it kept moving, so... I charged up my blaster some more and... well, it hit the target but it also blasted a hole in the wall." Tears began welling up in Firespark's optics. "And I didn't mean to do it, but then I got so embarassed, and they were all staring at me so I ran out the door and just kept running and running until I wound up outside..." Firespark sniffled.

Prowl nodded. "I see. You do know however, that you will still need to serve the detentions for going off of school property..." The look on Firespark's face told him he knew. "What did you do while you were outside?"

Firespark looked away. "Um, I just sort of sat there and looked at the sky and thought."

There Prowl went with the eyebrows again. "So you didn't see anybot?"

Firespark's spark skipped a pulse. Did Prowl already know? Impossible! Well, he was a cyber ninja... maybe this was just a test to see if he'd tell the truth... "Uh, yeah, there was one mech..."

"A mech?" Firespark silently cursed himself for giving away his new friend. "What did he look like?"

Well, there was no turning back now. "He was kinda tall... He had a visor and a mask, so I couldn't tell what color his optics were. And he was covered in mud, so I don't know what color he was."

Prowl frowned. "Did he give you his name?"

Firespark shook his head. "No, sir. But he said he knew my mom, Chromia."

Prowl seemed to be deep in thought. "Yes. Well. I think, in light of the circumstances, and in return for your giving me this information without question, we can forget about those detentions."

Firespark's optics widened and he blinked. Prowl never took back consequences! There had to be a catch.

And lo and behold, here it was. "However, I do believe it would be safer if you would return to your parents' home and stay with them until I... get things worked out."

Firespark sighed. It was just his luck.


	6. Home Is Where the Spark Is

**Home Is Where the Spark Is**

Firespark sighed into his cube of energon. He watched it swirl around, the glowing liquid casting light on his face. Chromia looked over at him from the kitchen and frowned.

"What's wrong, sweetspark? Are you not feeling well?"

"Yeah…" He stood up and walked, head down, to his room. He wasn't up to eating, but he doubted it was because he was ill. He had spent the past few days at his parents' house, and he was beginning to miss school. He couldn't shoot anything here… How was he going to get any better if they wouldn't let him practice? He shut his door and plopped down on his bed. His servo reached under his pillow and he pulled out the candies the mech had given him. He still hadn't eaten them. And he still hadn't asked the mech his name… He felt too guilty. He was afraid the mech knew what he'd done. Had they found him? Were they hurting him? He flopped over, pressing his face into his pillow. He shouldn't have told them. Prowl had probably been bluffing, and he had been too afraid to call him on it. His fist clenched around the candies. He needed to know.

He tried to pay more attention to what his spark was doing. He knew he could use it to talk to the mech, but he didn't know exactly how. He focused on the pulse. He took a couple of deep, centering breaths, and then sank almost instinctively into his sub consciousness. Everything was white. He was in a medium-sized room, large enough for someone to live in comfortably.

"Hello?" The air shifted around him, and the mech materialized in front of him. Firespark could see now that he was blue, and quite angular. His optics came to rest on the Decepticon insignia, smack in the middle of his chest. Firespark gasped.

The mech held his servos up, palms out. "I'm not going to hurt you. Besides, I can't. We're not anywhere near each other."

Firespark stepped back and curled his servos into fists. "Don't c-come any closer! If I'd known you were a Decepticreep, I wouldn't have tried to talk to you!"

The mech's hands fell back down to his sides. "Well. I see they've raised you well. Your mother would be proud."

"My mother is proud! Proud that I'm an Autobot!" Firespark wasn't really sure that anyone was proud of him, but he was afraid, and was yelling the first things that came into his mind.

"YOUR MOTHER IS DEAD." Firespark gasped and fell on his butt.

"No… no, she's not… I was just talking with her…"

"Chromia is not your mother. And Ironhide is not your father. The way we are speaking, right now, is over a spark bond, a form of communication only available to those related to each other. You are my son."

"NO! NO!" Firespark clapped his servos over his audio receptors and shook his head, no longer listening to the mech. He wanted to leave, wanted to be back at home with his mother and father… But this mech had just destroyed his family, torn his life apart.

"But your mother would be proud to see how handsome and strong you've grown up to be. Just as I am. I am proud of you too, Firespark. Firespark, look at me."

"No, no, no, no…"

"Firespark, I love you, and I'll always be here for you."

"You… They're coming for you. I told them… When we met. They know." Firespark glared up at the mech.

"You… What? Why?"

"They knew. Prowl's a cyber ninja. They knew." Firespark suddenly felt guilty again for telling, and hung his head. "I'm sorry."

The mech squatted next to Firespark and rested a large servo on his shoulder. Firespark flinched, but did not pull away. "I'll be fine. They won't come after me, but they'll be watching you closer than ever. If you ever need help, or just want to talk, I'll be here for you. I have to go, I have duties to attend to around the station."

"Wait, who are you?"

"Do your research." The mech's voice had changed to a horrible monotone. "I'm sure you'll figure it out. A little puzzle to keep you occupied." The mech dissolved away, leaving Firespark alone in the white room. He sat still for a while before leaving also.

"Firespark? Firespark, honey, please wake up!"

"Mmmm… no…" He waved an arm weakly at the source of the voice. The candies fell out of his servo.

"What's this? Firespark, where did you get these?" Firespark onlined his optics and looked up at Chromia.

"They're mine. Give them back!" He reached out toward them and, seeing the look on his mom's face, added a quick "please." She frowned back at him.

"You know you're not allowed to have candy. Where did you get them?" Her voice was acquiring an "angry mom" tone.

"A… friend gave them to me."

"Who?"

Firespark's mouth opened and closed while he floundered for an answer. "Uhbuh… Bumblebee! Bumblebee gave them to me."

"So if I were to call Bumblebee and ask him if he gave you some candy, his answer would be yes?"

Oh boy, he was in it deep, now. But still, holding on to some last shred of hope, he kept on trucking. "…yes?"

"You're grounded. No leaving the house until you tell me where you got these." Chromia stood up and turned to leave.

"Wait!" She looked back, no doubt expecting an answer. What she got was entirely different. "Tell me… Tell me about the day I was protoformed." _I've got her now,_ Firespark thought.

"Well." Chromia sat down on the edge of the bed. "Well, it was very rainy. Your father and I had been stationed at an Autobot base near Tyger Pax. This was before the war, of course. Anyway, you were protoformed there, in the med bay. I remember holding you and looking down at your blue optics. They looked just like Wi… mine. And your armor was the same shade of red as your father's." She sighed wistfully. "Why do you ask?"

"You never told me anything about it before. I was just… curious." _She lied to me! _"I feel a little stuffy, can I sit outside?"

Chromia eyed him concernedly. "Sure. I hope you're not coming down with any viruses…" He stood up and walked out of the room, making his way to their back patio. Their house was fairly large and had a yard, unlike those in the city. Once outside, he took a seat on a porch chair facing the house. _I have to get out of here. I'm sick of this place. _He glanced inside a window. Chromia was nowhere in sight. He took off running toward the city.

**Author's Note: **Sorry for all the dialogue, you guys. I just needed to get this chapter out of the way so I can keep this plot going.


	7. Decepticon at Spark

**Decepticon at Spark**

Chromia poured some fresh energon into a cube, frowning to herself. Firespark had never cared to know about his protoforming before. He had been acting weird lately. She absentmindedly stirred the energon while she thought about her adopted son. She hadn't really meant to lie to him, but she didn't think he was ready to know the truth yet, and Ironhide needed to be there when he was told, as well. She nodded to herself. Now was not the time. Picking up the cube of energon, she walked out of the kitchen and made her way through the house to the back door. She opened the door and stepped outside.

"Firespark, honey, I brought you some…" She stopped mid-sentence. The young mech was nowhere to be seen. "Firespark?" No answer. "Firespark!" She raced inside.

The gray mech raced down the street, thoroughly enjoying the wind against his face and the sense of freedom it gave him. He wasn't going back, but he wasn't about to race into the Decepticons' ranks. He needed to do a little research… and where better to do that than the city library?

Firespark stood outside the large library building, bent double and panting. The city was a lot farther from his house than he had remembered. Once his intakes had slowed, he stepped into the cool building. The quiet pressed against his audio sensors, and he immediately slowed his pace, trying to be as quiet as possible. He walked to a corner of the main room, picking up a datapad and sitting in a plush chair. He selected 'non-fiction' on the main screen and then narrowed his search, looking for anything that could give him information about the Decepticons, but not make him look suspicious. He didn't find much. There were almost no pictures, and the ones he found didn't contain his father. Most of the books on the Decepticons were in the restricted section, and Firespark couldn't get access to them. He frowned and stood up, placing the datapad on the chair he had been sitting in. Wasn't it his right to be able to recognize the Decepticons? If he ran into a Decepticon in an alley, he probably wouldn't be able to tell it from any other 'bot.

Firespark stepped out once more onto the city streets. His absence had probably been noticed by now. He needed somewhere to hide, or some way to disguise himself. He stared down at his blue-gray servos. Maybe an alt. mode would help… But there was nothing or no one around to scan. He forced himself to keep moving down the street. He also had no credits to even get a room to stay in, and he didn't know how to get any. Living on the run was harder than he thought it would be.

Firespark ducked into an empty building. He needed to speak with his father. He climbed to the second floor – it looked like this had been an apartment building, once – and walked into a random room, closing the door behind him. He cleared a space on the floor of rubble and lay down there, trying to make himself comfortable.

It was considerably easier for him to slip into his subconscious this time. He sat down on the white floor and took a deep breath.

"Dad?" For a second there was no response. Firespark took another nervous breath, and then the large blue mech appeared in front of him.

"What is it, Firespark?" There was a tone of concern in the strange voice.

"I… I need help. I ran away from home and I don't wanna go back, but I don't have anywhere to stay and I don't have any credits or anything." He looked up at his father's face.

The mech stared down at Firespark, staying silent for a long time. Finally he spoke. "The safest place for you would be at your adopted parents' home." Firespark opened his mouth to protest, but his father held up a servo, silencing him. "However, I do not believe it is the place you were meant for. You may look like an Autobot, but it seems you are a Decepticon at spark. I originally placed you with the Autobots to protect you, but you are old enough now to be able to protect yourself… enough."

"Well, then, what's the plan?" Firespark's spark was whirring out of control with excitement.

"I cannot go within the city limits without being detected. Do you know the old station, on the edge of the city?"

Firespark nodded. He had gone there once, on a field trip.

"Go there. Then, follow the transport tracks south until you come to the first bridge. I will be waiting in the ditch below."

The small grey mech smiled. "I'll be there as soon as possible!" And he left his subconscious. He flew down the stairs and out of the building, running once more through the city streets. He attracted the attention of a couple of Cybertronians, but they didn't seem too interested in him. Rounding a corner, he saw the station up ahead. He wasn't far now. He'd be with his real father, where he really belonged. He stepped his pace up once more. He didn't want to get caught this close to freedom.

The old transportation tracks were rusting and cyber-fauna had grown over them completely in some places, but Firespark knew well enough where they led. And besides, the ditch wasn't very far from the city itself. He had to fight the urge to dance down the tracks.

His joy was short-lived, however. He caught the faint sound of revving engines and turned to look behind him. In the distance, he could see a rapidly approaching powder blue car. He gasped and ran away as fast as his legs could carry him, praying that the ditch was closer than he remembered, but the way things had been going, it most likely wouldn't be. He could hear Chromia catching up with him, and wished he had an alt. mode already. Preferably something that could fly.

"FIRESPARK, YOU GET YOUR AFT OVER HERE!" The 'bot in question frowned and pushed himself to run faster, but he was already going as fast as he could. "FIRESPARK!" Tears welled up in his optics. She was right behind him and he couldn't see the bridge… his little expedition was over. He heard the sound of Chromia transforming and was slammed into the turf when she tackled him. "You are in BIG trouble, mister! You'll be lucky to ever set foot outside of the house ever again!"

He struggled to squirm out from under her and shouted in a last ditch effort. "DAD! HELP!"

Chromia froze, obviously not expecting this. "Firespark, what are you…"

"DAD!" He heard something heavy slam into the ground nearby.

"You! Don't you come near my son!" Firespark couldn't see what was happening (his head had been shoved into the ground), but he knew his father's voice when he heard it.

"_Your_ son? We both know that's not true. I've come to take him back."

Chromia launched herself at the mech, teeth bared and fists raised. "Over my offline body!"

"I hope it doesn't come to that." He sidestepped and knocked her aside. "You are the closest thing my son has to a mother."

"I _AM_ HIS MOTHER!" She dove at him, and the two fell to the ground. Firespark watched from the side as they wrestled. He wanted his father to win the fight, but he didn't want Chromia to get hurt. And now the two were up and throwing punches… Rather, Chromia was punching and his father was dodging. The large mech (Chromia had to be two-thirds his height, but she made up for the size difference with spirit) finally threw a punch of his own, and hit the femme in the side of the head. She swayed and stepped back, but recovered fast. The mech pressed a button on his shoulder and his chest compartment opened up.

"Frenzy; eject." Firespark's optics nearly popped out of his head as he watched a little 'bot come flying from the compartment. "Operation: scramble circuits."

"Right away, boss!" Firespark watched the 'bot closely, but he didn't move. Chromia, however, clapped her servos to her audio sensors and fell over, twitching. The small mech didn't hear anything (he must've been too far away), but his vision was getting a little fuzzy. That was weird. His father walked over. Firespark had to fight the urge to pull away. He was really scary up close and in real life, especially now that Firespark knew he was a Decepticon. But he was his dad.

"For future reference, my name is Soundwave." Soundwave held out a massive servo to his son. With a sudden jolt of excitement, Firespark took his father's servo, and was swung up onto his back. He almost fell off, just because he hadn't been expecting that, but managed to cling on at the last moment. "Frenzy, move out. Firespark, we need to get you an alt. mode and teach you to fly." He must've sensed his son's shock, because he continued. "As a Decepticon, that is one of your skills." The three of them took off toward the distant Decepticon base.

Chromia came to with a splitting headache. Scrambled circuits were never fun. She looked at the sky and sighed. The sun had already set, and that… thing… was long gone, with her son. She gritted her teeth and tried to hold back her frustrated tears. She got shakily to her feet and began the walk back to the house. Ironhide was probably wondering where his family was.

**Author's Note: **Hurr. My sense of humor is ridiculous. Blame it on my dad. Last ditch effort… when he was trying to get to the ditch… get it? *shot* Anyway. Yayy for lame title drops in a story! And yay for massive long chapters that take me weeks to write… the next one won't take as long, I promise. REVIEW PLOX.


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